Behind The Scenes Of The Telecommunications Miracle: An Empirical Analysis Of The Indian Market

Executive Summary

The authors analyze the demand and supply characteristics of the Indian telecommunications market, in order to assess the potential effectiveness of universal access policies in developing countries. They provide some empirical evidence on the supply and demand characteristics, using a small time-series-cross-section dataset on Indian States. They suggest that the price elasticity of demand for mainlines might be sensibly higher than the levels usually found in developed countries, while the crucial role of income and other sociodemographic variables seems to be confirmed.